Posts tagged with "New York City Department of Buildings (NYC DOB)":

Construction cranes dominate the New York City skyline almost as much the city’s tallest spires. A street with scaffolding, especially in Manhattan, is a sight seen more often than not. Thousands of projects are currently underway in the five boroughs and it’s impossible to keep track of them all. To provide some perspective, a new interactive map and database from the New York City Department of Buildings allows you to visualize all the active major construction sites in the city. Updated daily, it unveils the great pace at which the city is changing in real time—not to mention that it shows the disparity in investment from neighborhood to neighborhood.Categorized by square footage, estimated cost, and number of proposed housing units, the data lets users analyze what’s being built right now and where. According to the site, there are 7,457 active permits filed and 197,913,815 total square feet of construction happening now. Brooklyn and Queens have the most sites under construction with 2,800 projects and 2,500 projects respectively. Nearly 2,000 more new buildings are coming up than renovations. So this leads us to ask: How is the city making room for all this new space? The answer: It's building up. The largest-scale project shown is 500 West 33rd Street (a.k.a. 30 Hudson Yards), a 3.9 million-square-foot, mixed-use skyscraper spearheaded by the Tishman Corporation. It’s subsequently the most expensive project going up in New York at a reported $576.68 million. Norman Foster’s 410 10th Avenue (50 Hudson Yards), an office tower, comes in a close second at 2.91 million square feet but is beat out for second priciest project in construction by the residential conversion happening at One Wall Street.The data also details that the tallest new building under construction in New York is, not surprisingly, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill’sCentral Park Tower at 225 West 57th Street. The supertall boasts 98 floors and should top out next year. Also hitting the top ten list of tallest buildings by floor count are 220 Central Park South by Robert A.M. Stern, One Manhattan Square by Adamson Associates and Dattner Architects, as well as the MoMA-adjacent 53W53 by Jean Nouvel. The residential project with the most apartments offered under construction is HTO Architects’ 22-44 Jackson Avenue, a controversial two-towered, 1,115-unit development that’s replacing 5Pointz in Long Island City, Queens. The map also shows the stark differences between the construction corporations leading the market. Tishman currently has so many projects under its purview that together they span a total of around 15 million square feet in New York. Lendlease and Turner fall behind with 5.4 million and 4.8 million square feet, respectively.According to the data, 120 million square feet of apartment projects are underway, with five of the top ten residential projects with the most dwelling units going up in Queens alone. What this map doesn’t do, however, is zero in on how much residential construction is affordable. To find that out, you have to extrapolate from the data by looking at each project’s permit application on the DOB’s website. Having that information more easily available, maybe also as an interactive map, would be even more helpful to normal New Yorkers than a site that largely details the city’s tallest and most expensive buildings. All you have to do is walk outside and look up to know that.

Moscow–based firm Meganom has just gained approval for the tallest project by a Russian firm in the U.S., a 1,001–foot residential supertall at 262 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) gave the go-ahead for the tower on Tuesday, just over a year after the application was filed.
The developer behind the project is Boris Kuzinez of New York–based firm Five Points Development. Kuzinez has spent $102 million already on site preparations, but is still seeking a construction loan for the tower itself. The architect of record is SLCE Architects. Consulting for the exterior wall has been conducted with Front Inc., with facade maintenance by Entek Engineering.
Renderings for the skyscraper show a lean silhouette of a building punctuated by two observation decks. According to the designer, the apartment units, each measuring approximately 47 by 52 feet, will be anchored to an aluminum-clad column on the western side like shelves. All of the building's lift and mechanical systems will also be housed within this volume, allowing the residential space to be open and column-free. 41 apartments will be available in total, with floor-to-ceiling windows on the northern and southern facades. The design also accommodates customization: potential residents will be able to choose from a "library" of different layouts, with the option of purchasing full and multiple floors as well as portions of levels according to their needs.
The building's top floor features a tall open space that offers 180-degree views to the north and south of Manhattan. According to the firm's website, the top observation deck can be reserved for private events by the building's residents.
Triple-glazed windows facing north and south will stabilize the building's heating and cooling systems. Smaller, porthole-shaped windows will dot the building's eastern side. According to The Real Deal, a triplex apartment within the building could be worth as much as $75 million.
Two structures on the site have already been demolished to make way for construction. A third structure at 260 Fifth Avenue will be preserved as part of the tower's base. There is no set timeline for construction. This is Meganom's first project in the U.S.

The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has introduced the first phase of a brand-new $29.6 million computer system that aims to streamline the construction process. DOB NOW will move the department's paper-only filing system for builders onto an all-digital platform in four phases. DOB, the world cordially welcomes you to 2016.

The department hopes DOB NOW will streamline the construction process by making it possible to file building and construction permits online; track applications; conduct virtual meetings with DOB staff; and print permits at home. Phase one, DOB NOW: Build, will allow applications for sprinkler and plumbing systems. Over the next two years, the DOB will add applications for various jobs until it will be possible to apply for a whole new building from the comfort of your home.

The mayor has allocated $120 million to hire hundreds of new staff and for modernizing programs like DOB NOW. In a press release, department commissioner Rick D. Chandler expanded on the changes:“Modernizing DOB will not only make dealing with the city’s bureaucracy less aggravating—it offers a unique opportunity to boost our economy and create the housing, jobs, and infrastructure upon which 8.5 million New Yorkers depend. With DOB NOW, New Yorkers will be able to track every step of our work, often in real time. If you hire an architect, engineer, plumber, or other professional, you’ll be able to track their work, too. We want New Yorkers to have more access to our records so they can help hold us and everyone in the construction industry accountable."

For property owners of Hurricane Sandy-ravaged buildings, the road to recovery just got easier. Starting on Monday, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) will offer a new program that provides design consultations to property owners and design professionals who want to reconstruct their buildings. Department officials and technical experts will explain the building code and zoning requirements for properties in special flood hazard areas, as indicated on insurance rate maps or on updated Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) maps.
According to the announcement from the DOB: “This program is designed to accelerate the approval process for these projects, assist homeowners with their decisions on reconstruction and better ensure that new flood recommendations and standards are incorporated into the design and construction of these affected buildings."
The consultations will be held at the Department’s NYC Development Hub at 80 Centre Street in Manhattan. Property owners will sit down with officials and compile a list of recommendations to apply to the construction plans that they intend on submitting to the DOB.

Lenore Norman, a pioneer of historic preservation, died at 83 years old in her home on the Upper West Side on December 21st. She spent over 4 decades working tirelessly to preserve some of New York's most iconic buildings and historic districts. Ms. Norman first stepped into her role as the executive director of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in the mid-1970s—a time when the idea of landmark preservation was fairly new and unpopular among some New Yorkers.
"The whole idea of preservation was not something that people really understood, and of course, all of the larger institutions and buildings, for the most part, fought it," said Ms. Norman in an interview for The New York Preservation Archive Project.
The New York Timesdescribed Ms. Norman as someone who was influential, but "did her work behind the scenes" and "was content to let the commissioners, developers, advocates and lobbyists occupy center stage." During her tenure as executive director, she played a critical role in designating a number of significant landmarks including Grand Central, St. Bartholomew's, the neo-gothic-style Woolworth Building by Cass Gilbert, and the Villard Houses by McKim, Mead & White.
Her approach with the real estate industry was collaborative, even when discussions grew contentious: "We always try to compromise, to find a way where we could co-exist," said Ms. Norman.
Ms. Norman left the Landmarks Preservation Commission in the early 1980s and took a position as the director of intergovernmental affairs at the city's Department of Buildings. In her later life, she served as the co-chairwoman of the preservation committee of Community Board 7 on the Upper West Side—the very neighborhood she lived in and helped designate as an historic district when she worked at the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
While a preservationist by profession, she didn't see development as a black and white issue. She understood the need to balance the city's growth with its architectural history.
"I want to live in a city that has diversity but I also want it to be reminiscent of what it was like years ago," Ms. Norman said in the interview. "The city has to change, it won't grow if it doesn't, and don't misunderstand, but I don't believe that we are rooted in tradition to the point where nothing new can be built or there can be no modifications to accommodate life as it is today, I think in general, there are verboten areas that we shouldn't be going into."

Mies Bashing. For all the glory of Modernist Chicago, there are still those who mourn the loss of the White City's Beaux Arts influence. Historian David Garrard tells WBEZ of the "sterile" Daley Center's ruinous effect on The Loop. One has to wonder what he'd make of Time Out Chicago's "Fifteen Fanciful Ways to Fix Navy Pier."Tiiiimmmmbeeeeerrrrr! Meanwhile, at another Navy locale...Chuck Schumer is hopping mad about contorting being done by the U.S. Army to get out of repairing the 158-year-old Timber Shed at Brooklyn's Navy Yard. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the senator is pressing army brass, which still has control over the building, to fix it or get out of the way and let the city do it.
For Sale: Beach front property, water views, lively neighborhood. WSJ reports that the land where Coney Island's famed Thunderbolt roller coaster scared the bejesus out of generations of New Yorkers can now be had for $75 million to $95 million.
Way Head Start. NYC Department of Buildings launched their Junior Architects and Engineers Program this week at PS31, reports NY1. (The news clip, starring fifth grade Frank Lloyd Wright fan Thomas Patras, is just too cute to pass up.)

The NYC Department of Buildings recently launched a YouTube channel. You'd think the department's time would be better spent actually inspecting buildings instead of making videos about inspecting buildings, but a) given the black eye the department suffered after the two crane accidents two years ago, and b) this is a pretty damn good video, let's let our criticism slide. In fact, this simple black-and-white-photos-and-voiceover film verges on tearjerker. "A lot of the companies out there welcome us and are happy to see us out there performing a safety inspection, and then there's that percentage that want no part to do with us," intones inspector Joseph Coben, the Bronx still thick in his voice. Interesting factoids about the three-year-old scaffolding team abound, like how every scaffold gets a walkthrough no matter how dangerous, and how thankful workers are for the inspector getting them off a dangerous site they can't leave without risking their jobs. Grab some popcorn and a hardhat and enjoy.

The Downtown Alliance unveiled "Restore the View" today, the latest installation in its re:Construction program, which gussies up downtown construction fencing. The program began in 2007 and has gotten bigger each year, with five installations done earlier this summer and now three from Pasquarelli, the first artist to conceive of more than one. "Restore the View" just went up over the weekend at the site of Fitterman Hall, across from 7 WTC. "Secret Gardens" will mask road construction on Chambers Street and "Hours of the Day" is going up on a plaza across from the new W Hotel on Washington Street. Not only is it nice that the Alliance is concerned with how these sites look, but it means there is a lot of work still going on downtown.
Still, one project is conspicuously missing, and that is the Urban Umbrella, the winner of last winter's UrbanShed competition. UrbanShed was launched by the DOB and the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects with the goal of redesigning those ubiquitous construction sheds that must be set up at even minor construction or renovation sites. The hope was to make something more transparent and accessible, something apparently achieved by the Urban Umbrella. Apparently because the new construction shed was to be installed some time this summer at one of Lower Manhattan's multiple construction sites. So far nothing. James Yolles of the Alliance said it should be up by October, DOB said year's end. Still no word on why there have been delays, but it's too bad because who is going to want to huddle together on a blustery fall day for the ribbon cutting?